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"CYLOR" (See your local Orthodox Rabbi) is a much-used phrase on Mi Yodeya, and throughout many Jewish sites.

I believe this innocuous phrase has several limitations. The first is a question of audience: An Orthodox Jew would know to ask an Orthodox Rabbi; while a non-Orthodox Jew may feel judged or confused.

In addition, not all Orthodox Rabbis are competent. Additionally, the term "local" is mostly irrelevant. Many people have a connection with a solid Halachik authority who lives some distance away, and there is no reason that is any worse than a "local" one. (Perhaps the term local is a rather out-of-context translation of "marah d'asra".) In the same vein, the Rabbi does not have to be "your" Rabbi - complex or difficult questions may need a more highly qualified Halachik authority to pasken.

In our on-going effort to make Mi Yodeya more friendly, open, and conducive to Kiddush Hashem, (see hereand here for examples)I would like to suggest we search for alternatives to this common catch phrase.

A possibility is to replace CLYOR with ACR - Ask a Competent Rabbi.

What do you think about this situation? (Please write both pros and cons!)

What alternative phrases could we use?

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    I question how literally anyone takes the phrase.
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 5:10
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    @DoubleAA See judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/9146 that this phrase is taken literally - including the "local" part
    – LN6595
    Commented Mar 1, 2015 at 21:07
  • I don't see the phrase mentioned there at all...
    – Double AA Mod
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 3:09
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    @DoubleAA judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/9146 takes the "local" part very seriously. Although CYLOR isn't written, it is implied.
    – LN6595
    Commented Mar 2, 2015 at 4:01

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Besides the drawbacks suggested in the question and in Monica Cellio's answer, "CYLOR" is not-universally-comprehensible jargon, and therefore, its use, at least in question and answer posts, is generally inconsistent with our jargon policy. In addition, its use, whether in posts, comments or chat, could come off as excessively brusque, where a complete, polite, tailored sentence is likely to be better-received.

Therefore, I recommend that in general, people who want to convey this sentiment use some variation, tailored to the context and the target for maximum effectiveness, of:

I recommend that you [consult your rabbi](http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/9146).

For a disclaimer at the end of a Halacha question, one could use something along the lines of:

Of course, [consult your rabbi](http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/9146)
before implementing anything [you learn here](https://judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1734).
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CYLOR long pre-dates Mi Yodeya; I first encountered it on soc.culture.jewish on Usenet mumbledy years ago. So it seems natural to me that it migrated here. (There I also saw a variant, CYLHA for "...Halachic Authority", but it was never as widespread and seems a little cumbersome to me.)

But over time, and particularly here, I too have found the term not ideal. For a while I was using CYLR -- the "your" should already cover "of a flavor acceptable to you", after all. Somebody, I forget who, pointed out to me that the same reasoning could apply to "local" -- you're going to consult your rabbi, who's probably local to you but "local" is more about relationship than geography.

So these days I tend to use CYR -- Consult Your Rabbi.

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How about putting it in the big warning on the page? Just make it "CYLOR: Call your Local Orthodox Rabbi" + currentScript

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